Friday, April 20, 2012

THE SOUL'S JOURNEY VII

In the Odyssey, when he returns to Ithaca Odysseus has a
additional task to accomplish, that of reuniting with his wife
after a ten year absence without communication. He enlists the
assistance of Athena and is eventually reunited with Penelope
after their long separation.

To Blake the reunion of the Zoa with his Emanation is an important
step in achieving regeneration. Symptomatic of the disintegration
of the whole man is the loss of the feminine. An example of the
recovery of the emanation is reported in this post of Ahania's return to Urizen. The process is that of re-generation, not of
simple return to former conditions.

The central figure in the Arlington Tempera may be simple in
appearance but she represents a complex symbol because she is the
reconciliation or culmination of multiple mythopoeic threads. If
seen as Athena she is the divine assistance which aided Odysseus
in his travels and brought about his reunion with his wife. Some
may see as well as Athena (the intuition or imagination),
Aphrodite (the emotions or source of life, born herself from the
sea).

In Blake's mythic construction she is primarily Jerusalem the
spiritual connection of man to God. She is also Vala from whom the
veil has been removed returning her to her unblemished beauty of
eternity. She isEnitharmon whose work with Los wrought the bodies
in which generation traversed the Sea of Time and Space. She is Enion who knew most acutely what it meant for spirit to be
separated from matter.

Jerusalem, Plate 88, (E 246)
"For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations
Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity
How then can I ever again be united as Man with Man
While thou my Emanation refusest my Fibres of dominion.
When Souls mingle & join thro all the Fibres of Brotherhood
Can there be any secret joy on Earth greater than this?"

The paradox of Blake's use of the female to connect heaven and
earth, is that the separateness of the female is extinguished when
man awakes to the unity of Eternity. The fragmentation, which in
some accounts began with the appearance of the first female, ends
with her disappearance:

The Poets Song draws to its period & Enitharmon is no more.
For if he be that Albion I can never weave him in my Looms
But when he touches the first fibrous thread, like filmy dew
My Looms will be no more & I annihilate vanish for ever
Then thou wilt Create another Female according to thy Will.

Los answerd swift as the shuttle of gold. Sexes must vanish &
cease
To be, when Albion arises from his dread repose O lovely
Enitharmon:
When all their Crimes, their Punishments their Accusations of Sin:
All their Jealousies Revenges. Murders. hidings of Cruelty in
Deceit
Appear only in the Outward Spheres of Visionary Space and Time.
In the shadows of Possibility by Mutual Forgiveness forevermore
And in the Vision & in the Prophecy, that we may Foresee &
Avoid
The terrors of Creation & Redemption & Judgment."